Comcast DVR - Bad full disk message

Factual Questions
1

I have the Comcast branded Motorola settop HD-DVR. Last night, I got a “your disk is full so I’m not recording your stuff, delete some of this crap” message. Okay so far, right? Yeah, not so much. I had a grand total of 6 hours recorded on that drive as follows:

1 hr - Regular Digital (some show the wife recorded)
1 hr - HD (Lost Finale)
1 hr - HD (Last week’s Jericho)
1 hr - HD (Barbara Walters’ special pt 1)
1 hr - HD (Barbara Walters’ special pt 2)
1 hr - HD (Star Trek)

All times verified via the on-screen display.
That’s it.

So, in a panic, I wiped the Walters’ special part 1. The little meter at the top jumps to 28% full. Whew. Problem solved, right? Not so much after taping 1 hour of HD television (Heroes), it start to tape Studio60 and bam same damn message - “Disk is full, not recording, neener, neener”. WTF? Delete Heroes (I just watched it) and BW Special part II. Disk is 21% full and can record again.

So, my question. Is anyone else having this problem and, if so, how the hell do you fix it?

2

I’ve been getting wacky “100% full” messages on my Motorola Comcast DVR also as well as the unit freezing up when watching a show (can’t rewind a live show, etc.)
I usually unplug the power cord to the unit (either from the wall or direct from the DVR) for about 30 seconds then plug it back in. It seems to reset everything and doesn’t erase anything I have previously recorded.

3

Hmm.
On one of the commercial security DVRs I’m familiar with, bogus “Disk Full” messages mean your hard drive is bad or on its way out.

4

I thought that HD programming uses a much higher amount of disk space than traditional recording. I mean, it’s many times the amount of data of an SD TV show.

5

It does. The comcast DVR is supposed to hold 60 hours of SD or 15 hours of HD recording. But that’s well over what the OP has recorded.

These DVRs are great-- when they work. The good thing is comcast will send someone out to your house to fix it, or you can just trade it in for a new one if you want. I’ve had mine for about 2 1/2 years, but have had to turn in 3 bad ones over that time.

6

Yeah, that’s about right. Each 1 hour HD show takes around 6-7% of the disk.

Yes, but dammit I’ve got stuff on there (the Lost mid-season finale) that I don’t want to lose.

Gotta tell you though, this DVR is crap compared to the one I had from Dish Network.

7

I’ll agree with you there. My Dish Network DVR could ffwd/reverse on a dime. And the 30 second jump button was fantastic.
These Comcast Motorola boxes pale in comparisson.

8

The new software does FF and FR much quicker. There was a 30 second jump you could program in, but I’m not sure if that still works. How much did you pay for your DN DVR? The Comcast DVR is just a few bucks/month to rent, so it’s not as big a deal if it breaks down. It is a bummer to lose all the stuff you have on there, though.

9

Spot on. Comcast’s box is pathetic. Although I have heard that Verizon’s DVR will be a bit better. I just have another six months of Comcast until Verizon gets us hooked up.

10

Lemme guess…your Motorola box has the “MOXI” system on it? I have a similar DVR from [del]Adelphia[/del] Time Warner Cable, which claims to have a 60-hr. recording capacity, but it’s never managed to record more than 35-40 hours. Sometimes, it will demand that I delete up to SIX hours of previously recorded shows just to schedule a one-hour recording – at other times, my DVR goes on a killing spree and starts deleting stuff willy-nilly. It’s annoying.

I don’t have HDTV but I do know the recording capacity for HD is much smaller – so if your Motorola DVR only records half the space it claims to have, that’s yer problem.

11

Here are some snippets of text I squirrelled away some time ago that apply to the Moto DVR STB. Use at your own risk:

30 sec skip (and other useful functions):

  1. Press the “Cable” button at the top of the remote to put it into Cable Box control mode.
  2. Press and hold the “Setup” button until the “Cable” button blinks twice.
  3. Type in the code 994. The “Cable” button will blink twice
  4. Press (do not hold) the “Setup” button
  5. Type in the code 00173 (for 30 second Skip) or 00236 (for Swap) or 00141 (for unmute).
  6. Press whatever button you want to map the skip or swap function to.

===============================
I found this possible information to wiping out recordings. I don’t know just what else it may also delete or reset:
Enter diagnostics menu: Turn off power, hit OK/Select within 2 seconds.
Hit in sequence: Replay, MyDVR, MyDVR, MyDVR, Live
Hit any other key and the box will reset.

The above is 100% at your own risk!!!

===============================
This is the Full DVR STB Clear / reset. This will delete everything and cause the box to reset and download Account settings, and I-Guide info

the correct buttons are as follows

STB Power Off

15 Sec replay / rewind
15 Sec replay / rewind
15 Sec replay / rewind
My DVR
Live
Live
Live

12

Thanks for that, but I’m trying to keep the stuff on disk…

That got it. Pulled the same crap tonight. Our child accidently recorded 11 minutes of tv today. Disk read 100% full. Pulled the plug. Disk read 13% full.

Motorola, get it right or don’t fucking release it.

I have now instituted a mandatory unplug after anything is saved to hard drive.

I’m also looking into ways to burn the couple of things I want to keep onto DVD and then Comcast will be requested to come fix their shit.

Thanks for all of the help everybody!

13

[FAMOUS LAST WORDS]
I’ll give this a try tonight and see what happens…
[/FAMOUS LAST WORDS]

looks like others have had success though…

14

I just did it yesterday and it worked for me.
I assigned it to the little yellow traingle “lock” button as suggested in wikibooks.